V2V

Consumers Embrace IoT And Wearables, Worry About Security Consequences

A new survey of consumer attitudes and expectations about technology finds that a strong majority of Americans expect wearable technology and biometric security to be common within the next decade. The survey, sponsored by the security company McAfee, asked 1,500 U.S. consumers about lifestyle and technology trends in the home and workplace. The results suggest that consumers are already adjusting their expectations about the future to include pervasive connectivity, a wealth of intelligent devices – and some of the problems that come with both. More than 60% of those surveyed by McAfee said they anticipate having connected appliances like refrigerators that will “automatically add food to a running grocery list if the product is running low.” A strong majority of those polled – 84% – said they were convinced their home security systems will be connected to their mobile device. “As technology, especially the Internet of Things, continues to rapidly advance and […]

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electronic highway

Building an Unhackable Autonomous Vehicle – CityLab

The folks over at The Atlantic have an intriguing take on the subject of “connected vehicles” and autonomous driving. Now this is a vision that we’ve been chasing for more than 50 years (consider all the technicolor “highway of tomorrow” films from the 50s and 60s). And we’re on the cusp of realizing it. Google’s self-driving car is racking up the miles and automated features like hands free cruise control and collision avoidance are making their way into production vehicles. As Alexis Madrigal at The Atlantic’s (cool) CityLab writes, however, there’s one major fly in the ointment when you consider the super efficient, algorithmically driven road of the future: humans. Specifically: Madrigal, in the course of writing an article on how to build an ‘unhackable’ car poses a scenario that I think is very likely: humans who subvert or otherwise game vehicle automation features to suit their own needs. Imagining the orderly procession […]

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Analog Devices MEMS

IEEE Issues Standard For Sensors, Tiny Machines

A new standard published by the IEEE may accelerate the spread and use of the Internet of Things: providing a common reference to govern the performance of  microelectromechanical systems, or MEMS.   The standard, IEEE 2700-2014, was recently approved by the IEEE Standards Association (IEEE-SA) Standards Board. It will provide a common methodology for specifying the performance of tiny sensors that are becoming more and more common in consumer electronics and other industries. That should make it easier for vendors , including Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) to begin integrating two or more sensors without having to worry about integration challenges. The standards apply to a wide range of small sensors that currently populate everything from mobile phones to wearable devices like Apple’s newly announced smart watch. These include accelerometers, magnetometers, gyrometers and gyroscopes, barometers and other pressure sensors, humidity sensors, temperature sensors, ambient light sensors and proximity sensors, IEEE said. “The industry has been struggling […]

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Exploding Gas Tanks: Risk, Liability and Internet of Things

We like to construct Hollywood friendly plots around a lot of the seminal moments in our collective history. For Civil Rights, we like to picture the integration of Little Rock High School, Rosa Parks’ courageous protest on a Montgomery bus or the March on Washington. For environmentalism, we talk about Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring or, maybe, the burning Cuyahoga River in Cleveland. (This vintage news footage of the 1969 fire calls it the fire that “sparked the environmental movement” without any apparent irony.) For automobile safety, we imagine Ralph Nader and the image of a 1972 crash test that shows the gas tank of the Ford Pinto exploding in a rear impact collision, engulfing both cars in flames. But those memories are often way oversimplified. Little Rock and the Montgomery bus boycott were just two battles in a fight for civil rights that went back to the end of the Civil War. Likewise, the Cuyahoga […]

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Security Experts call for Action on Connected Auto Safety

A non-profit group that represents prominent computer security researchers has issued an open letter to the automotive industry calling for more collaboration on cyber security issues. The group, I Am The Cavalry said the automotive industry needs to elevate cyber security to put it on par with other vehicle safety issues. The announcement, on Friday at DEF CON 22 in Las Vegas – an annual hacker conference – included a letter to CEOs in the automotive industry, calling for the adoption of “five key capabilities that create a baseline for safety relating to the computer systems in cars.” The letter asks for safety to be built into the design of computer systems in vehicles. “Increasing reliance on computer systems and internet connectivity in cars is opening up a whole new area of consumer risk, much of which is still being investigated and understood,” the group said. “Modern cars are computers […]

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